Cultured cell lines have been used to generate and analyze monoclonal antibodies to several malignant cell types lines including melanoma (Dippold, W.G., et al. (1980) Proc. Nat'l. Acad. Sci. (Wash.) 77:6114-6118), astrocytoma (Cairncross, J.G., et al. (1982) Proc. Nat'l. Acad. Sci. (Wash.) 79:5641-5645) and certain epithelial cancers (Ueda, R., et al. (1981) Proc. Nat'l. Acad. Sci. (Wash). 78:5122-5126; Fradet, Y., et al. (1984) Proc. Nat'l. Acad. Sci. (Wash.) 81:224-228; and Mattes, M.J., et al. (1984) Proc. Nat'l. Acad. Sci. (Wash.) 81:568-572). In each case it has been found that the cells selectively express surface antigens which are characteristic of the particular cell type. Since the presence of unique surface antigens is of diagnostic and therapeutic significance, antigens restricted to other malignant cells have been studied.
Some information is available concerning surface antigens of teratocarcinoma cells. It is known for instance that teratocarcinoma cells display a characteristic pattern of cell surface carbohydrates (Solter, D., et al. (1978) Proc. Nat'l. Acad. Sci. (Wash.) 75:5565-5569). Coordinated changes in the expression of a group of biosynthetically related carbohydrate sequences have been demonstrated during the embryonal development in the mouse and during certain stages of cellular differentiation in human teratocarcinoma (Kapadia, A., et al. (1981) Exp. Cell Res. 131:185-195; Teshima, S., et al. (1984) Lab. Inves. 50:271). Also, a shift in glycolipid synthesis from the globo-series to the lacto-series during differentiation has been propsoed by Kannagi et al. (Kannagi, R., et al. (1983) Embo. J. (1983) 2:2355-2361) as a characteristic feature of human teratocarcinoma cells. Accordingly, monoclonal antibodies capable of recognizing surface antigens of teratocarcinoma cells have been sought.